NYCF 2014 Scott Snyder Interview Transcript

FTB: Hey, we’re here with Scott Snyder, writer of Batman, Batman: Eternal, and countless other Bat-titles at New York Comic Fest… nice to have you, Scott!

SS: Yeah, thanks for having me!

FTB: So, you’ve written plenty of Batman villains– obviously, I’m here as the Court of Owls today, you wrote a great Joker in Death of the Family, a great Riddler in Zero Year, so I’ve got to ask you the tough question– who is your favorite Batman villain?

SS: Well, my favorite of all time has to be the Joker, because for me he sort of, I think he represents my favorite sort of villainy, which is a kind of antagonist that basically makes you afraid that the thing you’re most concerned is true about yourself is true. So what I mean by that is, you look at Batman or anyone he’s facing and say “I know what you’re most afraid is true. I know what you’re worried is your real flaw, and I know that that thing actually is your flaw– it is what’s gonna keep you from succeeding. So I’m gonna make this big horrifying challenge to prove to you that you’re worthless, and that that thing is true about yourself. You’re nobody. You’re nothing.” He says that he does it to make Batman stronger, and he believes that if he throws these nightmares and challenges Batman’s way, and Batman can overcome them, Batman will prove himself infallible.

But that kind of antagonist, who basically looks inside you and sees what you’re most terrified of, and brings that to life in some kind of horrifying obstacle course– that, to me, is a pure villain. It’s not just sort of being a monster, being scary, it’s looking and seeing what you, psychologically, are most terrified of, in terms of what you think might be true about yourself, that you’re worried might just be true. I’m being very inarticulate–

FTB: –no worries.

SS: It brings you face to face with that sort of challenge. I love that about him– he’s kind of like the Devil’s tongue.

FTB: One more thing. Obviously, you’re working on Batman: Eternal now, Zero Year is wrapping up… what can we expect to see from Batman in the future? I mean, if you can tell us…

SS: I can’t give you any spoilers, really, except to say that we’re gonna do what I honestly believe to be our biggest, most out of control story, and hopefully our fan favorite story. It’s definitely a story that’s designed as a kind of reward to fans for letting us do the origin, in a way that it has the biggest cast, it has many many superheroes, it has many supervillains, and it’s six issues. It goes from October to March. So we’re going to announce more about it at San Diego and then a lot of teasers and things leading up to October. But I promise you, it is definitely our biggest, most popcorn fun, nutty thing we’ve done.